Contract Documents

Contract documents

• It is a universal practice in construction

for the contract to be formalized by

written documents

• The basic purpose of a written contract

is to define exactly and explicitly the

rights and obligations of each party to it

FIDIC’s definition of Contract

Sub-Clause 1.1.1 [Contract]

• means the Contract Agreement, the Letter of Tender, the Letter of Acceptance, the conditions, the Specifications, the Drawings, the Schedules, and the further documents (if any) which are listed in the Contract Agreement or in the Letter of Acceptance

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The agreement

• Is made between the Employer and the

Contractor

• Records those items agreed to by the Parties

• Constitutes legal evidence that a contract

exists and forms the basis for its enforcement

• Form annexed

to the

Jordanian

Particular

Conditions

Letter of Tender as defined by

FIDIC99

• Letter of Tender

• means the document entitled letter of

tender, which was completed by the

Contractor and includes the signed offer

to the Employer for the Works

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Letter of Acceptance as defined by

FIDIC99

• Letter of Acceptance

• means the letter of formal acceptance,

signed by the Employer, of the Letter of

Tender, including any annexed

memoranda comprising agreements

between and signed by both Parties

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• If there is no such letter of acceptance,

the expression “Letter of Acceptance”

means the Contract Agreement and the

date issuing or receiving the Letter of

Acceptance means the date of signing

the Contract Agreement

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• FIDIC suggests the following phrasing

for Letter of Acceptance:

– For and on behalf of ….., we accepted the

offer contained in your Letter of Tender

dated …. to [design], execute and

complete the above-named works and

remedy any defects therein, for the

Accepted Contract Amount of ….Unless

and until a formal Agreement is prepared

and executed, the Contract shall comprise

the following documents:

[list of documents, with appropriate

references /dates]

General Conditions

• Define the rights and obligations of the

Parties (i.e., Employer, Engineer,

Contractor)

• Describe the guidelines that will be used

in the administration of the contract

• In the past, the Jordanian General Conditions

were known as

(الشروط العامة)عقد المقاولة الموحد •

• Which was a slightly modified version of the

famous FIDIC 87 Red Book: FIDIC

Conditions of Contract for Works designed by

the Employer

• In 2003, Jordan decided to adopt FIDIC 1999

Conditions of Contract

FIDIC General Conditions of

Contract for Construction

• Organized in 20

Clauses

1. General

provisions

2. The employer

3. The engineer

4. The contractor

5. Nominated subcontractors

6. Staff and labor

7. Plant, materials, and workmanship

8. Commencement, delays and

suspension

9. Tests on completion

10.Employer’s taking over

11.Defects liability

12.Measurement and evaluation

13.Variation and adjustments

14.Contract price and payments

15.Termination by employer

16.Suspension and termination by

contractor

17.Risks and responsibility

18. Insurance

19.Force majeure

20.Claims, disputes and arbitration

Particular (special) Conditions

• Used to “tailor” the General

Conditions for:

• The local construction market

• Project at hand

• So, we utilize these Particular

Conditions to:

(1) Modify the General Conditions

(2) Delete sub-clauses in the General

Conditions

(3) Add sub-clauses to the General

Conditions

Content of Particular Conditions

• Make use of the General Conditions format

• Clause 1: General provisions

– Modify/add/delete

• Clause 2: The Employer

• Clause 3: The Contractor

• And so on ……..

FIDIC Priority of Documents

Sub-Clause 1.5 [Priority of Documents]

• The documents forming the Contract

are to be taken as mutually

explanatory of one another

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• For the purposes of interpretation, the priority of the documents shall be in accordance with the following sequence

• The Contract Agreement (if any)

• The Letter of Acceptance

• The Letter of Tender

• The Particular Conditions

• These General Conditions

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(f) The Specifications

(g) The Drawings, and

(h) The Schedules and any other documents forming Part of the Contract

• If an ambiguity or discrepancy is found in the documents, the Engineer shall issue any necessary clarification or instruction

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Order of precedence within drawings

(Hutchings, 1998)

• Figures govern over scaled dimensions

• Detailed drawings govern over general drawings

• Variation orders drawings govern over contract drawings

• Contract drawings govern over shop drawings